The History of Racism
Everyone knows the terrible role racism has played in the United States as well as in the rest of the world. We learned about it in school, we studied the horrid events and treatment our ancestors experienced or inflicted on others throughout countless moments of history. We are familiar with the concept of slavery in the United States and the unfair, cruel treatment of blacks even after emancipation. Just like any other kind of cultural progress, the fight for equality for black citizens has been a gradual process.
While there will always be biases to some degree, conscious or unconscious, it’s safe to say that things appear to be better now than they were in the 18th century, at least on the surface.
Since we are already familiar with the history of racism as it pertains to slavery, let’s review some history that is less prominently taught, despite its growing relevance.
Margaret Sanger and Eugenics
Margaret Sanger is most commonly known for her work educating women about birth control and establishing the American Birth Control League and Planned Parenthood. However, the less widely known side of Sanger is one of Nazi-inspired racism that lives on to this day.
In addition to founding the American Birth Control League, Sanger was inspired by Hitler’s ideologies, specifically regarding eugenics. Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1953 and subsequently marketed her campaign to Asian countries, such as India and Japan. She also worked extensively on the “Negro Project,” where she worked to bring Planned Parenthood’s services specifically to African American communities.
Of course, at a glance, it may seem as though Sanger simply wanted everyone to have equal access to Planned Parenthood’s services, such as birth control and abortions. However, Sanger’s entanglement with eugenics and her strong belief that birth control should be used to prevent the “breeding of unfit individuals,” suggests otherwise.
Sanger even wrote the following message in a letter to a program director in 1939:
“The minister’s work is also important and he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation, as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”
An article from Reuters describes how this quote by Sanger is often taken out of context, how it described an accusation she feared, not her actual mission. Yet, other Planned Parenthood slogans included “Birth control: to create a race of thoroughbreds” and “More children from the fit, less from the unfit.”
Sanger also said herself in an interview:
“I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world.”
Another quote the left denies Sanger’s use of is the following:
“Birth control is not contraception indiscriminately and thoughtlessly practiced. It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in our society and the gradual suppression, elimination, and eventual extirpation of defective stocks. Those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”
Even if Sanger herself used different words, her history, associations, ideologies, and the numbers speak for themselves.
Clearly, the birth control movement was never just about “helping” couples have as many or as few children as they wanted, it was about encouraging those who Sanger and the eugenics school of thought deemed “unfit” to make use of birth control and abortions. It’s no surprise that abortion clinics are strategically placed in low-income communities, the majority of which are black or Hispanic.
Despite being painted as a savior of women in distress, Sanger was also a known Anti-Semite. She actively participated in immigration restrictions to keep Jews out of the United States, as well as opposed free maternity clinics and other forms of social welfare that helped the poor, specifically the Jewish and non-white poor, survive.
The more one studies Sanger, the more one must realize the consistency in her ideologies and the inconsistency of the ideologies of the left, who have continuously hailed her work as heroic and yet ignored her intended mission.
In 2020, Planned Parenthood announced its plans to remove Sanger’s name from the NYC Health Center. Their Board Chair commented:
“Margaret Sanger’s concerns and advocacy for reproductive health have been clearly documented, but so too has her racist legacy. There is overwhelming evidence for Sanger’s deep belief in eugenic ideology, which runs completely counter to our values at PPGNY. Removing her name is an important step toward representing who we are as an organization and who we serve.”
So why are there a disproportionately large number of abortion clinics so strategically placed in low income, minority neighborhoods? By accident?
Wrong. By design. Look at the history, at Sanger’s goals and try to explain how the abortion industry is not the most racist organization alive and thriving to date. And we’re encouraging it.
By the way, in case you were wondering, Planned Parenthood has a page on their website dedicated to the history of their founder, Margaret Sanger. It reads:
“Sanger was so intent on her mission to advocate for birth control that she chose to align herself with ideas and organizations that were ableist and white supremacist. In 1926, she spoke to the women’s auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) at a rally in New Jersey to promote birth control methods. Sanger endorsed the 1927 Buck v. Bell decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that states could forcibly sterilize people deemed “unfit” without their consent and sometimes without their knowledge [emphasis added].” The acceptance of this decision by Sanger and other thought leaders laid the foundation for tens of thousands of people to be sterilized, often against their will.”
It goes on to say that “Planned Parenthood denounces Margaret Sanger’s belief in Eugenics,” and so on. But, wow. She’s still such a hero.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 75% of those who receive abortions are low income. Despite being minorities, just Hispanics and blacks comprise more than 50% of all abortions in the US.
An article from the Atlantic titled “THE LAST CHILDREN OF DOWN SYNDROME: Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning” describes how Denmark was one of the first countries to begin offering prenatal Down Syndrome screenings in 2004.
Now consider for a moment, why would they offer prenatal screenings to diagnose Down Syndrome? It’s not a life threatening condition for mother or baby, it doesn’t compromise the pregnancy, it’s not unsafe. So why offer it? Why, indeed.
More than 95% of those who receive a Down Syndrome diagnosis choose to abort.
The discussion of whether or not abortion should be illegal I’ll save for another time. For now, though, just consider the following:
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a known anti-Semite, racist, supporter of eugenics, and admirer of Hitler. She founded Planned Parenthood and marketed its services to low-income and minority communities under the guise of “women’s liberation.” Fast forward to today, when abortions are encouraged if you are low-income, minority, scared, if a disability is diagnosed, or you just want to be empowered (i.e. “liberated”).
That’s a lot of coincidences to brush off as unrelated to Sanger’s mission. I’m sure she’d be very proud.